Winter Landscape

Savery was a faithful follower of the traditions of Bruegel's landscape art. The prototype for the drawing is Bruegel's painting, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap in Brussels: not only the elevated viewpoint but also the motifs of the road leading past tall trees into the distance and the stocky figures are similar. The landscape detail framed by the swaying, gnarled tree branches creates a theatrical, fairytale atmosphere. The artist fled to Holland from the Spaniards; this pen and ink drawing dates from the 1590s, the time after he had settled in Amsterdarm.